BEIJING, Aug 15: Australia, Spain and the Netherlands broke away from the pack with their third wins to step closer to the semi-finals of the Olympic men’s field hockey on Friday.

As reigning champions Australia and the Dutch zipped to the top of pool B, World Cup champions Germany and New Zealand were involved in a close race for second place behind Spain in pool A.

Australia continued their relentless march towards the semis with a 3-1 win over Pakistan.

Pakistan were a step up in class from Australia’s first two opponents — Canada and South Africa — and the Aussies came back to win a fine game as they prepared to take on great rivals the Netherlands on Saturday.

The winners were again served well by their department of youth with Eddie Ockenden showing exceptional touch to beat three players before setting up the final goal for Travis Brooks.

Playing his 60th match for Australia despite being just 21, Ockenden has been one of Australia’s brightest prospects. His form is no surprise given he was voted ‘best player’ at last two Champions Trophy tournaments.

It was Australia’s third win in succession and if they can muster even a draw from their last two games against the Netherlands and Great Britain they should advance to play-offs and be two matches away from retaining their status as Olympic champions.

They were one-down early after fleet-footed Shakeel Abbasi stunned the tournament favourites with a brilliant strike from an acute angle which gave him a target range of barely two metres wide — and that space included goalkeeper Stephen Lambert.

The sweet strike rocketed into Lambert and then deflected into the goal.

Australia, as they inevitably do, struck back soon after when Grant Schubert beat advancing goalkeeper for equaliser. Australia took lead early in second half when a brilliant piece of improvisation from a penalty corner in which ball was neatly shuffled around the square until it found Jamie Dwyer unmarked just two metres from goal. Travis Brooks increased the margin in the 59th to make it 3-1.

Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf rued the missed chances, but said the temporary suspension of Mohammad Waqas in the first half cost the team dearly. “Losing a player at a crucial stage of the match did not help us,” said Zeeshan. “We played well and should have scored more goals, but wasted many chances.”

New Zealand lifted themselves to six points with a 4-2 win over Belgium, while Germany were only a point behind after playing a thrilling 3-3 draw against South Korea.

The match fluctuated dramatically before Germany’s third goal by Christopher Zeller in the 47th was equalised five minutes later by Korean captain Seo Jong-Ho.

The Netherlands, losing finalists at Athens, stayed on course for the semi-finals with a 4-2 win over Canada fashioned by a hat-trick from penalty corner ace Taeke Taekema.

Earlier, Spain downed hosts China 2-1 in the day’s first match which began at 8.30 am. Spain, widely regarded as the best team never to have won the Olympic gold, were woken from their slumber when Na Yubo gave China the lead in the sixth minute.

But veterans Xavier Ribas and Pol Amat scored once in either half to secure victory for their team.

In the day’s last match, Britain beat South Africa 2-0 to move to third place in pool B with James Tindall and Matt Daly scoring once in each half.

The South Africans are the only team in the 12-nation competition yet to score a goal from three matches in which they have conceded 17.—Agencies